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Friday, 16 March 2012

Esai Morales in Fairly Legal, Husbands & Grimm get second seasons, The Hunger Games premiere, and more updates

It's been a while since the last proper news roundup, so some of the news today won't be all that new. Posting it anyway in case anyone missed it elsewhere.

Fairly Legal is back tonight at 9 pm on USA. Esai Morales guest stars in the season premiere and will be appearing in several more episodes. Other BSG and Caprica folks appearing on the show this season include Michael Hogan, Ben Cotton and Zak Santiago. And yeah, Michael Trucco is still a regular.

What do we need to know about Esai Morales' character?
Esai Morales: I'm playing Aaron Davidson, thank you. No hablo espanol in this show... I am a politician, District Attorney. I am, I guess, a bit of a quintessential slimeball. Sleazebag is how I've been described, which is kind of interesting. I think [Davidson]'s wonderful. I think he's in the right most of the time, because you got to play people like that. I think he's a realist. You know what I mean? I call him sleazy, because I think either "slimeball" or "sleazy" is what Michael [Trucco]'s character called me yesterday.

Q: So what can we expect from your character this season?
Esai: Uh, dastardly-ness. I am a politician, district attorney. I am, I guess a bit of a quintessential slimeball, sleazebag is how I’ve been described…and intelligent. I mean at least if you’re gonna be a bad guy, have some brains about you.Q: Is there anything likable about your character? Or an inkling of a warm, fuzzy side?
Esai: I think he’s wonderful. I don’t think that will suit this show’s purposes for now. Although, you know I’d like to add in a little bit of vulnerability here and there. Because he’s not…I don’t play him as just a bad buy, I play him as self-justified. But you mess with hi, you know, you picked the wrong guy to mess with…politics is a shameless business. And, you know, I’m a realist. He kind of looks at Michael’s character like, who does he think he is?

Here is another interview, this time with Esai talking about his appearance in Law & Order: SVU last month:

And another one from last month that I don't think I've posted at the time:

Both Grimm and Husbands are getting second seasons. Both announcements came earlier today. Ausiello broke the news on Grimm over at TV Line, and Jane Espensontweeted the announcement about Husbands. Big congrats to everyone involved! More details hopefully coming soon.

Out in theatres now: John Carter with Polly Walker and Playback with Alessandra Torresani.

The Hunger Games will be out later this week. The first photos of Paula Malcomson in the film have finally started appearing on the web. Alessandra Torresani posted one here. The second one (right) is from one of the trading cards that are being released before the film hits theatres on the 23rd. It is expected to top Twilight and Harry Potter at the box office. Deadline writes that the film be released in 270 IMAX theatres in the U.S. for a week, and also on 19 IMAX screens in the UK and France.

Here is a TV spot:

The film had its red carpet premiere this week. Here are a few interviews with Paula:

Sasha Roiz was at the SXSW Film Festival for the Extracted premiere last weekend. If you're in the UK, you'll be able to catch the film at the Sci-Fi-London Film Festival in early May. Here is a new clip, from Wired:

Playmaker Magazine: The thing I like about this movie is how much heart it had on top of the great action. There are a couple of really emotional scenes where you got tears in your eyes watching the movie, specifically with Tom’s daughter. Is that one of the things that drew you to the script?
Sasha Roiz: I’ve got to give credit to [writer] Nir [Paniry] because that moment, even when I read it in the script, affected me the same way it affected me the other night on the screen. That was the reason I wanted to do the movie. Concepts are easy vehicles. To impress people with a concept doesn’t take a lot. But to really get to a truthful story and to the heart of the characters, that requires a lot of talent and I think he did a great job with the script. There are two specific moments, that being one of them, where, when I read it, I knew I wanted to be a part of this. And I’m glad that it translated on to the screen.

And you can listen to another interview with Sasha (about Grimm) on Vimeo.

Related: Sasha's short film Neighbors has been added to the Nashville Film Festival (April 19-26) lineup.

Patton Oswalt also had a movie opening at South by Southwest, the comedy Nature Calls. He talked to IndieWIRE about it:

"I’ve always done comedy, but what struck me was I’ve only done quick supporting doses of comedy for movies. So this was the first time that I was like, 'Oh, wait a minute, I’m actually, I’m sustaining this.' So that’s what ended up being really, really new for me. I didn’t think it would be that. In the end it wasn’t that weird because I had so many great supporting people around me," Oswalt told us in an interview this week. "And...I saw from the other side how crucial it is to have good supporting players, and you know, I never realized when I did these one or two-day roles how important it was. Just because you’re coming in with someone in there every day for two months and you really want to show up and work and be good for them…that was as much of a learning process, not only how to be a lead but to be reminded, on how being a supporting player, is really crucial."

Patton has been nominated for a Comedy Award for Comedy Special of the Year for Finest Hour. Big congrats! The awards ceremony takes place on April 28 and will air on May 6.

Young Adult was released on DVD on March 13. Movieweb has an exclusive featurette:

Patton also appears in The Bitter Buddha, a documentary about the comedian Eddie Pepitone that will be released this year. A trailer appeared online this week.

The first photos of Ryan Robbins in Cold Blooded have been posted on the film's FB page.

The Jitty has a new interview with Bear McCreary. Here is what he says about the Blood and Chrome score:

Would you be getting involved with scoring the "Battlestar Galactica" prequel, "Blood and Chrome"? If so, how do you think the sound will differ from "Caprica" and "Battlestar Galactica"?
I am involved in the "BSG" prequel, "Blood and Chrome." The score is nearly finished and will be a unique hybrid of sounds from "BSG," "Caprica" and new instrumentation that has not yet been heard in the franchise. It's one of the most exciting scores I've ever written.

Bear mentioned at the Galactibash in Seattle a couple of weeks ago that the score was finished. You can see clips from the Q&A on his blog. David Weddle, Bradley Thompson, Tahmoh Penikett, Mark Verheiden and Michael Nankin were also there. (Falling Skies news roundup coming tomorrow.)

Nankin said he would next be directing an episode of Alphas. If it's the season premiere, he starts shooting next week. From the looks of it, John Pyper-Ferguson will definitely be back as Stanton Parish in 2x01.

Speaking of John Pyper-Ferguson, he was at the premiere of Born to Race a few weeks ago. There are some photos from the event at Getty Images and the film's FB page. Here is a clip:

X-Men Anime with Scott Porter will be released on DVD on April 24. IGN has the report.

Richard Harmontweets that he is working on both Continuum and The Secret Circle again this week.

Ben appeared in this week's episode of Alcatraz (1x08 "Clarence Montgomery," available on Hulu). We'll also be seeing him on Fringe later this season and, as mentioned, in Fairly Legal. No air dates yet. He has also been cast in the Arrow pilot, so fingers crossed that it gets picked up. Brian Markinson is also in it.

We will also be seeing Brian Markinson in Continuum and The Killing. Film Luv BC has a new interview with him:

He is an actor who has the ability to find magnificent roles over the span of his career.

“I have a few, Uncle Louie on Broadway in “Lost in Yonkers” by Neil Simon; Steve Egan in “NYPD Blue” ( father who is accused of raping and killing his own son) and James Roszko in “Mayerthorpe” ( guy who killed four mounties in Alberta), I am lucky, I could probably list another ten,” said Markinson.

He loves playing the bad guy and “challenging the audience to feel empathy for the character,” said Markinson, “I love getting the response, ‘you made me feel sorry for the guy. We are all damaged in some way. I like showing that. I never play the bad guy as a cartoon.”

Markinson has been busy working between many local productions in recent months including “Continuum” and “The Killing”.

Soon he will be taking on the role of Adam Hunt in the new Warner Brothers pilot “The Arrow.”

Markinson describes his character as, “a real scumbag… stakes are high in every scene he plays in.”

Kevin Murphy has a new show to run, Syfy's Defiance, which also starts shooting one of these weeks and will premiere some time next year. From the press release:

Syfy has announced additional casting for its upcoming epic science fiction drama Defiance, inking Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran and Jaime Murray to co-star in the first-ever series to unite television and MMO gaming. The pilot, slated to commence production this April in Toronto, is directed by Scott Stewart (Legion, Priest), and written/executive produced by Rockne O’Bannon (Farscape), Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives, Caprica; Hellcats) & Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica). Kevin Murphy serves as showrunner.

Defiance is a visionary enterprise in collaboration with Trion Worlds, with the Syfy series and Trion’s multi-platform shooter MMO poised to debut simultaneously. Set in the near future, Defiance introduces a completely transformed planet Earth, inhabited by the survivors of a universal war. Forced to co-habitate, the disparate group struggles to build a new society among the devastation. The dramatic tapestry of the series and the intense action of the game will exist in a single universe where their respective narratives will inform one another and evolve together into one overall story. Defiance is produced by Universal Cable Productions.

Benz portrays Amanda Rosewater, the idealistic mayor of a bustling mining boomtown, one of the world’s few oases of civility and inclusion. As the newly appointed mayor, she is determined to maintain peace in the community, an ambitious task in this deadly new world.

Leonidas plays Irisa, an exotically beautiful warrior who is part of an alien race called the Irathients. After Nolan (Bowler) killed her criminal father, he adopted the girl and raised her as his clever – and lethal – right-hand.

Curran will portray Datak Tarr, part of an elite alien race known as the Castithans. Datak grew up in the slums of his home planet, but despite being part of the under-privileged class, he schemed his way onto one of the alien arks, saving himself before his home planet was destroyed.

Murray potrays Datak’s beautiful and proper wife, Stahma, a high-ranking Castithan before her home planet ceased to exist. Clever, imaginative and darkly opportunistic, Stahma is perhaps more dangerous than her husband.

The four join New Zealand born actor Grant Bowler, who is well-known for the recurring role on Ugly Betty (2008) as Wilhelmina Slater’s love interest, Connor Owens, and for the role of Cooter, the leader of the werewolf biker gang in the HBO series True Blood (2010) and Captain Gault in ABC's Lost (2008). Bowler plays Nolan, the new law keeper in the boomtown and former Marine who fought in the alien conflict. After losing his wife and child in the war, he becomes a wanderer in the dangerous new world, eventually joined by Irisa, a young Irathient he raises as his own and as his lone companion in the lawless badlands.

411mania.com has a new interview with James Marsters. It is mostly about Buffy - the show celebrates its 15th birthday this year. Snippets:

Al Norton: Were you aware that this month was the 15th anniversary of the premiere of Buffy?
James Marsters: No. I had it in my head that it was 7 years. I can't believe it's been 15 years already. Life goes so fast.

Al Norton: Are you now or have you ever been sick of talking about the show?
James Marsters: No, not at all. I'm a guy that can watch old Twilight Zone reruns for the 15th time. I like things that are well done, well written, and well executed, and I prefer to watch a well done movie more than once over something new that's not so good. I am very proud of the fact that I was part of something that didn't have all the money in the world but had the creative force to make something watchable more than once.

One of my favorite movies is the original Star Wars, and not after Lucas did all the computer effects, quote unquote fixing them, I like the version that cost something like $4.7 million. I love the fact that he could take me to another galaxy for that amount of money. I love the fact that the floating car in that movie was done with mirrors; he put mirrors over the wheels of the car and had Mark Hamill drive it to the dessert and he filmed it. I wanted to believe that that car floated and so it did. Yeah, if you look at it closely you can see its mirrors but I didn't notice it the first five times I watched the movie.

The Greyfriar audiobook narrated by James will be released in the U.S. on March 22. Details at the Don't Kill Spike blog.

James also talked to Supernatural Magazine about his experience working on that show. Snippet below, go here for more.

Q: As actors you’ve both (James & Charisma Carpenter) been able to showcase your great comedic timing in other roles, but how was it playing that vibe against one another in this episode?
JM: It was brilliant. I think we both instinctively knew where the drama was, where the horror was and where the comedy was. From watching her performance she understands very well to play the comedy, the horror and the drama equally. You just have to commit and make it real for yourself. For me, when you get into that marital spat stuff, don’t hold back. Be the fool. It’s people arguing in public so it can be really funny.

Here is an interview with him from the Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con last month:

The official trailer for Sisters & Brothers with Kacey Rohl, Ben Cotton and Michael Eklund was released earlier this month:

Two new interviews with William B. Davis showed up in recent days. One is at City TV. The other is from CliqueClack:

“I’ve had such a curious and unusual life, I guess, but certainly professional life,” he said when I asked why he’d decided to put pen to paper. “People talked to me quite frequently saying, ‘Maybe you should put this down. It’s such a unique story.’ I started as a child actor back before we were even producing television; I was acting in theater and radio drama. The X-Files and that whole phenomenon made it an unusual life. Once I started to write about it, it became fascinating.”
Therein lies an interesting quirk: when one thinks of biographies, you often think of how they’ll be interesting to the audience that reads them. You don’t usually get the sense that writing one’s life story could be just as interesting to the biographer themselves. But so it was for Mr. Davis.
“You see yourself as a character in a drama, in a way,” he explained. “You see different sides of yourself. Mistakes that you made. Mistakes other people may have made. Surprisingly, I found a kind of dramatic flow to many of the episodes in my life, including the theater that I ran that ended in a fire; smoke and fire became part of my life. I wanted to write a story about me that would appeal to people who like to read about people. But I also didn’t want to write a book that was a defense of my life. I wanted to write an honest look at my life.”

Last, Avan Jogia was also at the premiere of The Hunger Games (no, he is not in the movie). Here is an interview with him:

1 comment:

I'm still pissed that it looks like Syfy fired Ira Steven Behr or made him not want to return. He was so fired up about the show and I dread that it'll now lose its political insight. Heck, that season finale said so much of what has to be said about our world -- an ode to the Occupy movement and civil disobedience! I'll miss you, Mr. Behr.